It's a great honor for me to make a sincere appeal to you on behalf of my dear friends, Manish, Emily and Dillan Desai.
Manish is 31 and an architect - a gifted one with a passion for design.
He and Emily have been married about six years and have a beautiful 21-month-old boy, Dillan. It's been six months since Manish was diagnosed with cancer.
The doctors are surprised that Manish is even alive because the form of cancer he has is known to spread rapidly. The cancer doctors were always clear that amputating Manish's left hand -- his dominant hand -- would be the best approach to dealing with this grave disease. Manish mourned the loss, but Emily says the day he was given the news he also started practicing writing and sketching with his right hand.
Manish is in the process of getting an i-Limb, by a company called Touch Bionics.
This hand provides precision and fine motor skills that are unmatched among other prosthetic devices, which are more hook- or claw-like. The i-Limb boasts four fingers and a moveable thumb, each powered by its own motor and directed by a central processing unit in the palm.
The i-Limb was just introduced in the United States about two months ago and there are only 30 in the country. Insurance companies are not paying for this yet, and the costs could be as high as $50,000 to get Manish set up for the first few years.
We've set up a website that will provide that information, as well as tell Manish and Emily's story for other people who may be going through similar circumstances.
Check out www.whatsleftisright.com to see the site, read their story and check out the blog.
You can keep up to date on Manish's progress via the website and his blog.
--Marshall Allen
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